Sire
The Sires were mutated humans resulting from genetic experimentation and were the ancestors to the Locust Horde. Originally as human children of Imulsion miners, they were born with Rustlung during the early Pendulum Wars and brought to the New Hope Research Facility under the Coalition of Ordered Governments Department of Health during the Monroe Administration. The Director of the facility, Dr. Niles Samson, was tasked with finding a cure. Instead, he used cross species genetics by mutating the children with the DNA of indigenous creatures of the Hollow, transforming them into what he called the "Sires." The facility was later shut down by Chairman Monroe due to unethical experimentation. While many of the Sires were left behind in stasis tanks, the Fringe COG Party within the Monroe Administration believed in Samson's work and transferred him and several of the Sires to a secret facility in Mount Kadar, where he continued his research. The DNA of the Sires were then combined with the stem cells of a child born with Imulsion immunity to create the Locust Horde. All information on the Sires is classified, passed down from Chairman to Chairman, and rarely investigated.Gears of War: The Slab pg 139-141 History Origins During the Era of Silence, humanity had exhumed almost all natural fuel sources and was facing a massive energy crisis. However, Dr. Helen Cooper discovered that Imulsion could be used as a fuel source through the Lightmass Process. Thus, Sera arrived in the Gold Rush era as humanity began to mine for Imulsion. Most of the natural Imulsion reserves resided in the countries of the Coalition of Ordered Governments. Due to their now economic growth, the Coalition became the political world superpower. This led to the Union of Independent Republics to wage the Pendulum Wars in order to gain occupation of Imulsion reserves. In the early Pendulum Wars, unknown to the general population, those exposed to Imulsion fumes began to suffer from Imulsion poisoning known as Rustlung. Imulsion miners were the most affected, and the children born of the Imulsion miners were born with deformities and Imulsion sickness as well. The Coalition, wanting to capitalize on Imulsion and not face reparations for its health effects, commissioned the New Hope Research Facility under the Department of Health by the Monroe Administration. Built to be disguised as Jameson Depot, the facility was built to house the infected children as prisoners and attempt to find a cure. New Hope Research Facility The Director of the facility, Dr. Niles Samson, was tasked with finding a cure for Rustlung. As he began to inject Imulsion doses in the children and study its effects, he begun to realize that Imulsion could cause point mutations, leading Niles to believe that he could not only cure Rustlung, but evolve the human race into an immortal, superior species. During his research, it became apparent that one of the children, Myrrah, was immune to Imulsion, and began to benefit from the exposure, such as aging 50% the rate of a normal human. Niles believed he could replicate the results and transfer her immunity to the other children, but it failed. Niles then looked to the indigenous creatures of the Hollow, who he believed were resistant to Imulsion. Using the DNA of the indigenous creatures, he began cross-species genetic experimentation by splicing the DNA with the children's, mutating them into the Sires. The Sires became distempered and sterile, ultimately genetically unstable. As the research continued, staff members suffered from attacks by the Sires. Due to this and becoming disillusioned by the unethical experimentation, several employees resigned and leaked information regarding the facility. Chairman Monroe then became aware of these experiments and ordered the facility to be shut down, with Niles and all involved to be indicted. However, a fringe political group within the Monroe Administration believed in Samson's work, that it could end Rustlung and the Pendulum Wars, and offered him a secret facility in Mount Kadar to finish his work. Niles believed in saving the children, and thus he arranged for his loyal scientists, Myrrah, and a portion of the Sires to be relocated to Mount Kadar, albeit without the use of transport and having to walk to Mount Kadar during the night, in the snow. The remainder of the Sires were left in stasis tanks and protected by a semi-sentient security system AI based off of Niles' personality. The facility was then shut down and the Sires in stasis. All matters were classified and only known by the Chairman of the Coalition. Mount Kadar Laboratory Niles was successful in relocating his research to the secret facility inside Mount Kadar. There, he continued his work on improving the Sires to make them fertile and controllable. Niles discovered that Myrrah's stem cells were highly complementary to Sire DNA, and began combing Sire DNA with her embryonic stem cells. After many failures, the Sire-Human hybrid was completed with the creation of the Matriarch, the first known Berserker, which held a psychomagnetic bond with Myrrah, which allowed her to control the Matriarch. Only then was Niles able to create the first Locust Drone, which was finally able to reproduce and could be controlled by Myrrah, and amplified through the Matriarch. After this discovery, the remaining Sires were left in stasis at the facility, as Niles then continued research on the Locust Horde and Myrrah. Over time, the Locust desired independence, and Myrrah thought of them as her children and protected them with maternal instinct. One of the geneticists, Dr. Torres, began having relations with Myrrah and the two conceived a daughter, Reyna. It was then discovered that Reyna inherited Myrrah's psychomagnetic magnetic link to the Locust Hivemind. Fearful of the possible experimentation of his daughter, Dr. Torres escaped with Reyna from the facility. Unable to recapture her, Dr. Samson lied to Myrrah, that Reyna had died during the escape attempt. Distraught and vengeful, Myrrah used her connection with the Locust Horde to rebel against the scientists in the facility and killed them all, including Niles. She then led the Locust as her people out of the facility and deep underground Mount Kadar, where they would build a civilization and become an independent race. Lambent War As the Locust continued to live in the Hollow, they developed a religion known as the Trinity of Worms that worshiped the Riftworms. In their religion, Sires were revered as "holy incubators"Gears of War: The Rise of RAAM Part Two that were evolved from the Riftworms. However, the Locust were not immune to the Imulsion as Niles had hoped. Eventually, the Locust once again were faced with Imulsion sickness in the form of Lambency, in which Imulsion would possess the host and attempt to kill and infect all those around it. Unable to stop the Lambent, Myrrah, now the Queen of the Locust Horde, ordered her armies to invade the surface and kill all humans so that they could colonize the surface and escape the Lambent. Locust War Arrival of Delta-One 15 years after E-Day, on the second day of Frost during Operation: Hollow Storm, CIC ordered Delta-One to investigate New Hope. After gaining accesses to the "abandoned" outpost, Delta discovered Wretches and later the Sires still inside their tanks. While investigating the location of the Locust stronghold the Sires' stasis tanks were accidentally activated, and one after another the Sires fell upon Dom Santiago and Marcus Fenix. The two Gears were able to get past the Sires and shutdown the security systems in New Hope. Legacy The encounter with the Sires led to another "disagreement" with Chief of the COG Defense Staff, Colonel Hoffman and Chairman Richard Prescott, on how Prescott kept secrets from Hoffman about the Sires and New Hope.Gears of War: Jacinto's Remnant Swarm War After returning to the New Hope Research Facility in 42 A.E., Kait Diaz and Delmont Walker found Sires still alive in stasis tanks in the facility ruins. Having since learned some of the truth about what they were, Marcus Fenix warned the two to be especially careful as last time the Sires had been "moody." The facility suffered a chemical purge at the hands of the Niles AI and its unknown if any of the Sire test subjects survived.Gears 5: Forest for the Trees At the Mount Kadar Laboratory, the two discovered even more Sires in stasis tanks along with Niles' other surviving test subjects. The Niles AI at the facility explained the history behind the creation of the Sires. After betraying the two, Niles released the Sires from their stasis tanks alongside Locust Drones, but they were all killed by Kait and Del.Gears 5: Dirtier Little Secrets Behind the scenes *The conceptual idea of the Sires were compared to the real world Neanderthals, the genetic ancestors to humans. Appearances *''The Rise of RAAM'' *''The Slab'' *''Gears of War 2'' *''Jacinto's Remnant'' *''Coalition's End'' *''Gears 5'' References Category:COG Category:Lambent Locust Category:Locust Horde Category:The Swarm Category:Males Category:Females